Headline Hollywood: A Century of Film Scandal

Fatty Arbuckle’s arrest for the rape and murder of a starlet. Matinee idol Wallace Reid’s death from drug addiction. Ingrid Bergman’s love child. Rumour, gossip, innuendo. Hollywood has a long association with scandal - with covering it up, with managing its effects, and, in some cases, with creating and directing it. In putting together Headline Hollywood , Adrienne L. MacLean and David A. Cook approach the relationship between Hollywood and scandal from an alternative perspective. The contributors consider some of the famous transgressions that shocked Hollywood and its audiences during the last century, and explore the changing meaning of scandal over time by zeroing in on issues of power: Who decides what crimes and misdemeanours should be circulated for public consumption and titillation? What makes a Hollywood scandal scandalous? What are the uses of scandal? The essays are arranged chronologically to show how Hollywood scandals have evolved relative to changing moral and social orders. This collection should prove of value to those in the field of film studies as well as to anyone interested in the character and future direction of American culture.